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The big shadow of Odebrecht in Ecuador
Posted On 17 Jan 2017
The controversial Brazilian construction company devised a business and accounting formula that later turned lethal. Odebrecht not only bribed politicians, officials and lawyers for years to get contracts but also gave the fines an organic and corporate character. The consequences of operating with an ‘Account B,’ but with documentary accounting records, saturate the courts and shake the Latin American politics by the scandalous corruption of hundreds of prominent figures in the spheres of power in 12 nations, including Ecuador.
Odebrecht has managed operations for at least $ 5,135 million in contracts with seven of the last ten governments: those presided by Leon Febres-Cordero, Sixto Duran-Ballen, Fabian Alarcon, Jamil Mahuad, Gustavo Noboa, Alfredo Palacio and Rafael Correa. The mandates of Rodrigo Borja, Abdala Bucaram, and Lucio Gutierrez were left aside by the Brazilian multinational.
Eighteen public figures emerge at the moment in the papers of Odebrecht’s corruption within the endless list of protagonists who have passed through the seven Ecuadorian governments related to the company. They are identified by pseudonyms, according to an investigation conducted by daily Expreso still under development, over a hundred pages with handwritten notes belonging to the ‘Account B’ of the Brazilian construction company. In the documentation also appears the payment to a political campaign, although so far it has been unable to determine which one, and a list of more than 500 beneficiaries that includes the 18 people in Ecuador. The rest are from Brazil and Peru.
‘Secret 1,’ ‘Secret 2,’ ‘Grosso,’ ‘Matraca,’ ‘Bank,’ ‘Nippon,’ ‘Lights,’ ‘Chanceller’ … are some of the nicknames used as the key in the committed lists to register the payment of bribes. These nicknames of politicians, officials and lawyers were chosen in secret by Odebrecht’s trusted employees according to the physical, personality or professional traits of the bribed ones.
Source: http://expreso.ec/
